Steve McClaren Could Go After His Former Striker At Derby

Written by Dr. Ed Harrison

10:08pm Friday, July 3rd, 2015

Commented 95 times

If Newcastle cannot get some of their top striker targets through the door this summer don’t be too surprised if Steve McClaren goes after his former striker at Derby County – 26 year-old Scottish International Chris Martin.

Chris was born in Beccles, Suffolk and joined his home town club Norwich City back in 1998 as a 9 year-old and came through the ranks at Norwich.

Chris Martin – Derby County striker Martin had loan spells at Luton, Swindon and Crystal Palace to get some first team games and in total he played 114 first team games for Norwich City but only five of those were in the Premier League.

He scored 32 goals and 14 assist in total at Norwich City before he joined Derby on loan in January of 2013, and finally joined them permanently in that summer as a free agent, after his contract at Norwich had run out.

So he’s been there since Steve McClaren took over and in the last two season he’s scored 46 goals in 97 appearances for Derby, but of course it’s a big step up to play in the Premier League.

But it didn’t prove a problem last season for two strikers playing their very first season in the Premier League – Charlie Austin at QPR and Danny Ings at Burnley.

Chris’ contract at Derby runs through 2018.

Chris did so well in his first season at Derby that he was called up by Scotland for a friendly against Nigeria at Craven Cottage, and he came on at half time to get his first cap – and he so far has 6 caps for Scotland.

Chris qualifies to play for Scotland because his father was born in Glasgow.

The 6’1″ tall striker shouldn’t be too expensive, but since he’s English there will probably be an inflated fee put on his head, and that’s especially true if Paul Clement wants to keep him at Derby – which is likely.

The figures we’ve seen for him are around £6M, but Newcastle would only go after this player if we cannot get strikers like Charlie Austin, Bas Dost or Aleksandar Mitrovic through the door.

Chris is primarily a striker but he can also play out on either wing, and in his career he has made 305 total appearances, mainly in the Championship and League One, with 100 goals and 46 assists.

Chris Martin is pretty pap to be fair. He’s one of them ‘hold the ball up’ strikers that will grab you a goal here and there. Certainly wouldn’t want him as a main man but as a back up to come of the bench he could be effective.

So the latest rumor puts has us apparently showing an interest in Chris Martin. Well … though I can’t deny it would be a lovely sight to possibly see Gwyneth Paltrow wearing our famous black and white stripes in support of her former hubby. I somehow get the feeling that Rivierre might be more of a threat than the Coldplay frontman 😉

I liked Chris Martin more around the time when Coldplay released ‘Parachutes’, the more recent stuff I can leave. Here’s a little known song he wrote , I believe it goes a little something…like….this…..

Who Hell He Who Hell He Who Hell He Who Hell He Who Hell He Who Hell Hee-ee, Who Hell He Who Hell He Who Hell He Who Hell He, Who – Hell – He?

Maybe we should just hang fire on the speculation, let’s just give Steve and his new crew a couple of months, let him put Willo, Gouffran, Dummett, Obertan etc through their paces, see if they can be turned into elite footballers. He’s an ex England manager you know.

“I know the anticipation is already out there and that you want to see new players coming through the door immediately. That is natural. For me as head coach, however, it is so important that the right players come through the door. However long that takes, I want to make sure that we have just the type of people who can come in and force us forward.”

Swemag Curtis Good is the only current toon player to have played in a Final at Wembley. He has been out for months with a hip injury. If he is improvable (is there such a word) then Steve is the man to do it. Certainly there was a certain something about Riviere’s play to think there was a decent player hiding in there somewhere. Marveaux and Vuckic certainly have potential.

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I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in February 2017 and completed four months of chemotherapy in late July and will continue to have hormone treatment.

The cancer spread in the bones but it has been stabilized and has not spread further.

I am still recovering from some of the side effects of the chemo treatment - it's mainly severe fatigue and exhaustion.

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It is as it is - these things happen - and I will do my very best under the circumstances.

Ed Harrison

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